Educators in Terrytown speaking a new language

As Judith Torres leaned over her kindergarten student at Terrytown Elementary School, he asked for some help putting on his coat -- in Spanish.

Torres eased the child's arms into the jacket and gently guided him toward the classroom door. The boy, a newcomer to the class, wasn't feeling well and was heading home for the rest of the day.

"Do you know where the office is?" she asked, in Spanish.

A recent immigrant from Puerto Rico, Torres previously worked in the pharmaceutical field. But when she moved to Louisiana last spring, she was struck by the need for Spanish speakers at Terrytown, where her sons are enrolled.

This August, she landed a job as an assistant at the West Bank school, based in classrooms that teach English as a second language.

STAFF PHOTO BY SUSAN POAGFirst grader Adianela Perez is originally from Puerto Rico and is now a first grader at Terrytown Elementary School . The school has taken innovative approaches to the recent large influx of Hispanic students including hiring Spanish-speaking parents as assistants.

STAFF PHOTO BY SUSAN POAGKindergarten teacher Elise Pierson and her class sing a song about the different places they are from at Terrytown Elementary School.

"It's been very rewarding," she said of her new profession. "I learn from them."

At Terrytown, where the Hispanic population has exploded after Hurricane Katrina and now accounts for one-third of the student body, Spanish-language natives are increasingly sought-after.

In response, Principal Cherie Solieau-Varisco has adopted an unusual solution: appealing to the families of enrolled Hispanic students and bringing mothers onto the payroll as teaching assistants.

In this capacity, Torres helps out with all students learning English. But she fills a much-needed niche as a translator for the overwhelming number of Hispanic pupils who have relocated to Terrytown from countries including Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua.

Assistants also serve as conduits for Spanish-speaking parents who cannot decipher the reading materials sent home with their children. They write notes in Spanish for students, translate homework assignments and take calls from parents during the day.

"It's important to help your children with what they're learning," said Lourdes Ramirez, an assistant originally from Honduras, whose daughter Rina is at Terrytown. "If you can't understand, you can't help them."

Influx of Spanish-speakers

So far, Varisco has snapped up two mothers for assistant positions. She also recruited the retired father of the school's accounting clerk, and installed him as a substitute teacher in an ESL classroom.

"We take anyone that can help us," said Varisco, adding that she still needs to fill two ESL openings.

The explosive growth at Terrytown reflects a post-storm trend throughout the metro area, officials said.

In St. Tammany Parish, the number of Spanish-speaking students with limited English language skills has nearly doubled since the storm. In Orleans Parish, officials this year opened the Esperanza Charter School, created primarily to serve the city's booming Hispanic population.

In Jefferson Parish, officials responded to the surge in Hispanic enrollment by launching newcomers centers earlier this year, which provide intense English instruction for Hispanic high school students at risk of dropping out.

Before Katrina, Hispanics made up about 3 percent of Jefferson Parish's public school population, according to schools spokesman Jeff Nowakowski. That number has ballooned to about 10 percent, he said.

Likewise, the number of ESL teachers in Jefferson's district has increased after the storm, although overall enrollment that has fallen by about 6,000 students. Pre-Katrina, the system employed 69 ESL teachers, while this year, there are 98 teachers and 4 vacancies, Nowakowski said.

But while the overall district demographics are telling, Terrytown experienced a more dramatic influx than some other campuses, Nowakowski acknowledged.

"For some reason, they gravitated around the Terrytown area," he said.

The bulk of the parish's Spanish-speaking population has traditionally concentrated in East Jefferson, and schools with the three highest percentages of Hispanic students -- Audubon Elementary, Alexander Elementary and Roosevelt Middle -- are all located in Kenner. At Audubon, nearly 50 percent of the student body is Hispanic, whereas Alexander and Roosevelt have about 42 percent each.

Overcoming challenges

Still, Terrytown, which is 32 percent Hispanic, ranks fourth in the parish, making it the campus with the highest percentage of Hispanic students on the West Bank. For Varisco, the influx has posed uncommon challenges at the school's temporary campus, which is nearing capacity at 456 students.

Terrytown's original campus suffered severe rain and wind damage from Katrina and was torn down. Students are now housed in temporary classrooms, where they will probably remain for the next few years.

But while the transition has proved difficult, the successes of some students have overshadowed those difficulties, Varisco said.

Leilani Lopez, 9, couldn't speak a word of English when she arrived from Mexico last spring. She is now communicating with confidence.

This year, Leilani recorded herself reading a paper she had written for a class assignment. Her teacher, Teresita Diaz, posted a podcast of the recording on the class Web page. Diaz later learned that Leilani's entire family in Mexico had crowded into a cyber cafe to hear her voice over the Internet.

"They became very emotional listening to the podcast," Diaz said. "She's picking up English so well, they didn't even recognize her voice."

Jenny Hurwitz can be reached at (504) 826-3784 or jhurwitz@timespicayune.com.